Der Fuehrer's Face
| Der Fuehrer's Face | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jack Kinney |
| Story by | Joe Grant Dick Huemer |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Starring | Clarence Nash Cliff Edwards Charles Judels |
| Music by | Oliver Wallace |
| Animation by | Bob Carlson Les Clark Bill Justice Milt Neil Charles Nichols John Sibley |
| Layouts by | Don DaGradi Andy Engman[1] |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 8 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Der Fuehrer's Face (originally titled Donald Duck in Nutziland
Der Fuehrer's Face won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film at the 15th Academy Awards.[5][6] It is the only Donald Duck film to receive the honor, although eight other films have also been nominated.[7] In 1994, it was voted Number 22 of "the 50 Greatest Cartoons" of all time by members of the animation field.[8] However, because of the propagandistic nature of the short and the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi (albeit a deeply reluctant one), Disney kept the film out of general circulation after its original release. Its first home release came in 2004 with the release of the third wave of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets.
Plot
A
Because of wartime rationing, Donald's breakfast consists of bread that is so stale and hard it resembles wood (and must be sliced using a saw), coffee brewed from a single hoarded coffee bean, and a bacon and egg-flavored breath spray. The band shoves a copy of Mein Kampf in front of him for a moment of reading, then marches into his house and escorts him to a factory, with Donald now carrying the bass drum and Goering kicking him.
Upon arriving at the factory (at bayonet-point), Donald starts his comical 48-hour daily shift of screwing caps onto artillery shells coming at him in an assembly line. Mixed in with the shells are portraits of Der Fuehrer, so Donald must perform the Hitler salute every time a portrait appears, all the while screwing the caps onto shells, much to his disgust. Each new batch of shells is of a different size, ranging from individual bullets to massive shells as large as Donald (if not larger). The pace of the assembly line intensifies (as in the Charlie Chaplin comedy Modern Times), and Donald finds it increasingly hard to complete all the tasks. At the same time, he is bombarded with propaganda messages about the purported superiority of the Aryan race and the glory of working for Der Fuehrer. When Donald momentarily grumbles in frustration towards his situation, the Nazi guards overseeing him overhear him and draw their bayonets at him, forcing him to fearfully recant his complaints.
Donald has "paid vacation" which consists of making swastika shapes with his body for a few seconds in front of a painted backdrop of the Alps as exercise then he, by "special decree" of Der Fuehrer, is chosen to work overtime. After only a few seconds of overtime with continuous ordering, Donald has a nervous breakdown with hallucinations of artillery shells everywhere, some of which are snakes and birds, some sing and are the same shape of the marching band from the start, music and all (some of the animation from this sequence is recycled from the "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence from Dumbo).
When the hallucinations clear, Donald finds himself in his bed (wearing stars-and-stripes patterned pajamas), and realizes that the whole experience was a nightmare, but then sees the shadow of a figure holding its right hand up. Believing it is a Nazi salute, he begins to do so himself until he realizes that it is the shadow of a miniature Statue of Liberty, holding her torch high in her right hand. Remembering that he lives in the United States, Donald embraces the statue, saying, "Am I glad to be a citizen of the United States of America!"
The short ends with a caricature of Hitler's angry face, and a tomato is thrown at it, forming the words The End.
Voice cast
- Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
- Nazilead singer
- Charles Judels as Off-stage Nazi[9]
Song
| "Der Fuehrer's Face" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Spike Jones and His City Slickers | |
| Recorded | 1942 |
| Songwriter(s) | Oliver Wallace |
Before the film's release, the popular band
Other versions
- Johnny Bond recorded the song in July 1942 on the OKeh label.[14]
- Tommy Trinder recorded the song in the United Kingdom soon after the cartoon's release.[15]
- Harry Turtledove adapted the song in one of his Colonization novels, in tune with the novel's theme of an alternate history alien invasion during World War II.
Political themes
Although the film portrays events in Nazi Germany, its release came while the United States also was on total war footing. Coffee, meat and food oils were being rationed, civilians were heavily employed in military production, and propaganda in support of the war effort (such as the film itself) was pervasive. The film's criticism therefore emphasizes violence and terror under the Nazi government, as compared with the dull grind that all the warring nations faced.[16]
Censorship
In 2010, Der Fuehrer's Face was ruled by a local court in Kamchatka, Russia to be included in the national list of extremist materials, which was first created in 2002. This was due to a local who received a suspended sentence of six months for uploading it to the internet and "inciting hatred and enmity". In July 2016, another Russian court reversed the ruling of the local court, removing the short film from the list. The court highlighted that the film's portrayal of Nazism through caricature form cannot be deemed "extremist" in nature.[17]
In popular culture
- In August 1943, the cover of Four Favorites #11, depicted Magno (along with Davey, his boy partner) all singing "Der Fuehrer's Face", while an anthropomorphic war bondsimultaneously knocks out Emperor Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini in one punch.
Home media
The short was released on May 18, 2004 on Walt Disney Treasures: Walt Disney on the Front Lines.[18]
See also
Further reading
- Young, Jordan R. (2005). Spike Jones Off the Record: The Man Who Murdered Music (3rd edition) Albany: BearManor Media ISBN 1-59393-012-7.
References
- ^ "Der Fuehrer's Face". Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016.
- ^ "New U.S. War Songs". LIFE. Vol. 13, no. 18. 2 November 1942. p. 44. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
- ISBN 0-517-52961-0.
- ^ "Der Fuehrer's Face". Bcdb.com. 2012-12-16. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013.
- ^ "The 15th Academy Awards | 1943". Oscars.org. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- ^ "Biographies of 10 Classic Disney Characters". Disney D23. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03.
- ^ "Jack Hannah". D23. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
- ISBN 978-1878685490.
- ^ Scott, Keith (3 October 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
- ^ "The Week's Best Releases". Billboard. September 26, 1942. p. 66. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
- ^ a b "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #5". Digital.library.unt.edu. 1972.
- ^ a b "SCORN AND DISDAIN SPIKE JONES GIFFS HITLER DER OLD BIRDAPHONE, 1942". New York Daily News. April 8, 2009. Archived from the original on April 8, 2009.
- ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
- ^ "Praguefrank's Country Music Discography: Johnny Bond". Countrydiscography2.blogspot.ca. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ "Der Fuehrer's Face". Retrieved 21 January 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ Van Riper, A. Bowdoin (2011) Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt: Essays on Disney's Edutainment Films
- ^ Kozlov, Vladimir (21 July 2016). "Oscar-Winning Donald Duck Short About Nazi Germany Taken Off Russia's List of Extremist Material". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
- ^ "Walt Disney on the Front Lines DVD Review". Dvdizzy.com. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
External links
- Listen to "Der Fuehrer's Face" by Spike Jones on YouTube
- Der Fuehrer's Face at IMDb
- Der Fuehrer's Face at Disney A to Z
- Der Fuehrer's Face on the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
